Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation by John Guillory

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John Guillory challenges the most fundamental premises of the canon debate by resituating the problem of canon formation in an entirely new theoretical framework. The result is a book that promises to recast not only the debate about the literary curriculum but also the controversy over "multiculturalism" and the current "crisis of the humanities." Employing concepts drawn from Pierre Bourdieu's sociology, Guillory argues that canon formation must be understood less as a question of the representation of social groups than as a question of the distribution of "cultural capital" in the schools, which regulate access to literacy, to the practices of reading and writing.

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Guillory (English, Johns Hopkins U.) reframes the current debate as reflecting a "long-term decline in the cultural capital of literature." He examines the institutionalization of the "vernacular canon" in the 18th century; the rise of the New Critical canon in universities; and the advent of a "canon of theory" in the graduate schools. He reviews recent theoretical relations between aesthetics and value, and asserts that judgment should not be discredited. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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Table of Contents